As white supremacists and neo-Nazis try to infest our communities with hate, it is important to contest their revisionist history. We should take down their symbols, but also examine the untruths taught in our schools about the Civil War.

A renegotiated NAFTA that subordinates the needs of workers will meet the fate of the now-dead Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal. The humans in the United States, Canada and Mexico won’t be tricked or trickled down on again.

Movements, not politicians, are driving debate within the Democratic Party. The outcome is far from clear, but bemoaning this battle is like decrying the rising of the sun. People are engaged, and the demand for change is real.

Supremacists came to Charlottesville because they’re afraid of change - so afraid, they’re willing to terrorize the rest of us to prevent it. Here's what we can do now to help dismantle racism in Virginia and beyond.

People’s organizations, armed with the peaceful power of the vote, can take back statehouses in Virginia and all across the country, reversing the agenda of helmeted cowards and their allies. Wouldn’t that be the sweetest revenge?

There are only two sides here: Right and wrong. Murderer and victim. Hatred and love. When it really matters, the president of the United States refuses to call terror by its name, or pick a side. But we can.

Betsy DeVos says she supports "great public schools," but her actions show her hypocrisy. She undermines public options, yet favors schools owned by her friends. What she really wants is to tilt the playing field toward private ownership.

Is the anti-Trump resistance evolving into a movement that produces leaders with a mandate to govern with a progressive, grassroots-based agenda? We are seeing evidence that the answer will be a resounding "yes."

It was a big day on Long Island. President Donald Trump was jetting in for a victory lap on health care and some “tough talk” about immigration. Easy, right? Sorry, Donald. Things didn’t work out quite the way you expected!

BPA contains a compound that disrupts hormone levels and is associated with heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Executives at canned soup companies have developed two solutions to the problem:

Stop peeing

Advertise BPA as a new flavor (Momma’s chicken soup never tasted this good).

A new slogan: Real men eat canned soup.

I know, I know. That’s three, not two. But three is really hard to remember so if I get two right I’m happy.

***

The new fad in politics is to cry. Yep, that’s right. Just bust out in tears and you could be a real winner.

At recent tear shedding events Herman Cain and Rick Santorum cut loose. Past notables who have opened the ducts in public include Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and Bob Dole, not to mention the tearful and frequent hysterics of John Boehner.

The corporate media in the United States has banished news of events in Iceland from all of its outlets including newspapers, television and radio.

Iceland was and is once again a socialist democratic country. Not too many years ago it was one of the richest countries in the world. Its banks were publicly run institutions who operated mainly to benefit the citizens of Iceland.

Enter the ogre – the privatization monster. The banks were privatized, sought foreign investment, went deeply into debt and they and the Icelandic economy soon crashed. The privatization ogre in Europe insisted that the government repay the debt by instituting austerity measures.

In short, the people of the tiny country rebelled, removed the government and wrote a new constitution; and, voila` the country is back on its feet. And only because the people told the bankers and the other European elites that they will decide their own futures, thank you, so take a hike.

The actions of the people of Iceland represent a revolution and victory against the international power structure, in other words, the 1%. Hence, the total media blackout in the United States.

Regardless of the fear of the people that prompted the blackout, the people of Iceland sent a clear message to the 1%. To wit, vaffanculo which translated into English means bafangool.

***

Jesus wants everyone to own a pizza franchise, buy lottsa guns, run for president and stick their hands up a woman’s skirt.

Oh, wait. That’s Herman Cain.

Pizza man's here. Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

I think Herman also gets the two confused.

***

In case you haven’t heard, Hermie has gone and done it again. He’s signed the Susan B. Anthony “pro-life, anti-abortion” pledge. Not satisfied with putting his hands up a woman’s skirt, he wants to go even further and get them into the uterus.

The right wing Washington Post published an article by Sen. Bob Corker, a real doozy, in which the senator from Tennessee placed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae at the heart of the housing bubble.

Corker uncorks a corker, a real doozy. Image via Wikipedia

Corker claimed that government policies forced the two secondary mortgage giants to buy up all the subprime mortgages they could rake in.

Government officials, according to a spokesman, threatened executives of Fan and Fred with torture if they failed to support the subprime market. It is even rumored that officials imprisoned the big wigs in Gitmo where they subjected them to such tortures as waterboarding and solitary confinement for days on end.

Witnesses attest that executives and their CEOs fiercely resisted attempts by government to force the leaders of Fannie and Freddie to earn millions upon million of dollars in salaries and bonuses.

Their resistance however finally broke down under duress of torture and the executives accepted the riches forced upon them by government.

Because of their resistance to government coercion, the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie have been awarded The Schmuckup Prize by the Nobella Prize Committee of Pasta Fagioli, Italy. The committee awarded a similar prize to Sen. Corker.

The foregoing is a corker but truth be told it doesn’t come from Sen. Corker. Corker popped his own corker and you can read it in the GOP journal still known as the Washington Post.

Winners of The Schmuckup Award receive a certificate acknowledging the award as well as a forged autographed copy of a photo of Don Alberto Vito Nobella, the originator of the prize. In addition, winners are given the coveted statuette called The Little Schmucky engraved with the words “Schmucked up beyond all reason.” The Little Schmucky is sculpted of rusted metal stolen from an auto junk yard. All prizes are awarded while supplies last and unfortunately for the current winners supplies just ran out.

War industry lobbyists would have us believe if we reduce the war budget by even a small amount we could be killed in a terrorist attack. Not a pleasant thought of course and a good reason to keep spending at a level soon to reach a trillion dollars a year. Gots ta have all that war stuff to protect us.

So what does a trillion dollars a year spent here protect you from?

Let us ask this question however: Would you rather be killed in a terrorist attack or an automobile accident?

If those were the only two choices it would be preferable to be killed in a terrorist attack because it is far more likely that you can be killed in an auto accident.

So maybe we should be spending trillions improving safety on the highways.

Nah. No way. The war industry lavishes enormous amounts of protection money on countless government officials. And not one dime ever comes from the highways.

So if you have the choice on how you want to be killed, pick the terrorist attack. Your’re chances of being killed in one are about the same as being hit by a meteor. So you’ll be a lot safer.

***

Corporations are persons. But unlike the living, they shit everywhere on the planet and never cleanup after themselves – unless of course they are forced by government regulation to do so. And then they bitch like a bunch of spoiled brats.

All the world used to be a stage. Now it’s a video on Youtube. Someone should inform the police. Such knowledge might cause them to use good judgment and common sense for a change. On the other hand, why waste everybody’s time.

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If marijuana was legalized who would the police arrest?

Do you think they might investigate real crime and pursue real criminals? I’m not so sure. After all that could be dangerous. I suspect the number of speeding tickets they write would rise exponentially though.

Hmmm. Maybe keeping MJ illegal isn’t such a bad idea. It does tend to keep the police out of everybody’s hair.

***

Hey, cut me some slack. I'm just trying to make a fast buck like everyone else in Follyland. Image via Wikipedia

Activists marched in front of the Bozeman office of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT). They were protesting the Senator’s role in defeating the public option and supporting the mangled Obamacare instead. A spokesman for the senator said he’s just a simple, modest man whose trying to make a few million bucks from his position just like everyone else in DC.

***

Firms contracted by the government to provide torture services were charging $500 to attach nipple clamps to victims.

When the subjects began having orgasms, the government demanded refunds.

Biblical oddities offer surprise, provoke wonder and stimulate thought. Even if you don’t believe there are enough items of interest in this best seller of all time to make perusal a fascinating journey.

Here’s one everyone should like. It is somewhat sexual in nature and involves a place called Gilgal.

After the Israelites escaped from bondage in Egypt the practice of circumcising young males ended. When the tribes crossed the Jordan River, Joshua revived the practice. At a place named “The Hill of the Foreskins” all males, young and old, underwent the minor surgical procedure and by doing so renewed the covenant made between God and Abraham. (Joshua 5)

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The prophet Balaam by Rembrandt. Image via Wikipedia

One of my favorites is the tale of the talking donkey. No, this was not a case of Dr. Doolittle talking to the animals.

It’s the story of one Balaam who became angry at a stubborn donkey. The animal saw the angel of God blocking the road and refused to move. Balaam beat the donkey repeatedly until God had it speak.

“What have I done that deserves your beating me three times,” the animal said.

Without wonder or amazement at the talking donkey Balaam replied: “Because you have made me look like a fool.” (Numbers 22: 21-34).

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A tale in Exodus that has some modern day application, implies that the fetus has an inferior status to a person.

The story tells of a law that punishes two men who are fighting and who injure a woman during the altercation. If the woman dies the man who causes the injury shall be executed. If, however, the woman is pregnant and suffers a miscarriage, the man shall only be fined. Recent attempts to pass laws affording full person status to the fetus would seem to contradict the Bible. (Exodus 21: 22-23).

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The Ten Commandments are listed in Exodus 20. Although Avarice is counted among the Seven Deadly Sins, the sin of Greed is not listed among the prohibitions of the commandments. Proverbs 15:27 however carries this warning: ““He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house….”

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This proverb made me think of Washington, DC. “If a man enjoys folly, something is wrong.” Proverb 15:21 was certainly a harbinger of the follyland that our nation’s capital has become.

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Saul – a nonbeliever and perhaps even a persecutor of Jesus – converted to belief after suffering what scholars believe may have been a stroke during a journey to Syria. After imagining a conversation with God he underwent a conversion to become a believer. When friends nursed him back to health he pursued the life of a proselytizer. In fact, Saul, who is referred to as Paul in the New Testament, is credited with more converts to the religion than is Jesus himself.

The religion, however, was not Christianity as we know it today. That religion did not exist. Paul actually preached a form of Judaism with Jesus at the core. And he was a successful fisher of men only because he insisted that Old Testament laws should not be applied to converts.

Christianity, of course, evolved over the centuries after many violent clashes among the clerics, to assume its present form. However Paul, along with Jesus, has been adopted by Christians as a founder.

***

Some scholars consider Jesus a charismatic leader. Others believe he was a rebel. There may be some truth to both ideas. Image via Wikipedia

Some scholars consider Jesus to be the leader of a rebellious movement. Hence his crucifixion, a punishment the Romans usually reserved for dissidents.

***

It was Paul who wrote the words that man could be saved by faith alone, that is, belief in Jesus Christ as God. Good works as preached by the Church were not essential for salvation. Ironically, it was these words that helped Martin Luther overcome his struggle with the religion as it existed in his day and resulted in the greatest schism in religious history.

Issue of faith versus works did not end with this debate. For in James 2:20, the apostle insists that “Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.”

Nonetheless, while there were numerous causes for the Reformation, Luther’s “justification by faith alone” numbers among them.

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The Bible does not answer the ultimate question about the existence of God: Why do we suffer?”

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Scholars refer to the first three books of the New Testament as the Synoptic Gospels. Because of the many similarities between Matthew, Mark and Luke, it is thought the books are derived from a single unknown source. That silent document is called “Q” from the German word “Quelle” meaning source.

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Remember. You don’t have to believe to take the journey. Happy traveling.

Related articles

Every flimflam needs a mark. For the subprime mortgage scam there were millions of suckers. You’ve heard of them, the ones that are born every minute.

You know the kind, the ill-informed poor people and the uninitiated who reside closer to the middle.

Right wing extremists – a term that now encompasses the vast majority of people who used to call themselves conservatives – blamed first Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the meltdown.

And why shouldn’t they blame Fannie and Freddie.. After all the government forced these institutions to back mortgages to poor people who they knew couldn’t repay them. Yes, the big money boys of Fannie and Freddie were threatened with torture if they didn’t obey. Some CEOs were even sent to Gitmo and waterboarded because they didn’t submit. And since nobody likes having toothpicks stuck under their fingernails, the CEOs finally surrendered and, even though they resisted furiously, they were compelled by government to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses. Can you believe that!

Actually I just made that stuff up. But the rest is true.

So when that rubbish didn’t seem to stick, well, there was always the Community Reinvestment Act. Blaming the CRA was sheer balderdash, but hey, any port in a storm, right.

So desperate were the righties to blame anyone or anything for the economic meltdown that they even blamed poor people. Anyone would do. Anything to avoid blaming their cocktail party buddies – those who are really at fault, the Wall Street jailbirds (also known as CEOs, bankers and mortgage originators).

So they blame Fannie and Freddie who never issued a mortgage, subprime or otherwise. Both of which, in case you didn’t know, were privately operated, profit making institutions whose CEOs scarfed up untold millions in salaries and bonuses.

Then there was the Community Reinvestment Act. Passed during the Carter administration, it sought to eliminate the racist bank practice of redlining. A common exercise, redlining drew boundaries around poorer neighborhoods, mostly populated by African Americans, and placed a lending stranglehold on there areas. It mattered little that someone who qualified for a loan was denied. They were routinely blackballed simply because they happened to live a a poor neighborhood.

Funny thing. Fannie, Freddie and the CMA worked beautifully for decades.

So the righties continues their search. They had to find some excuse to absolve their Wall Street buddies from committing the crime of the ages. (I refer to these Wall Street hoods who scammed the nation and most of the industrialized world as jailbirds not because they ever served even a nanosecond behind bars where they truly belong. But because they escaped jail time only due to the vast amounts of protection money they lavish upon Congress and the White House. And of course that scratch buys them legislation that not only keeps them out of jail. It gets them bailed out with taxpayer money. That “get out of jail card free” card serves both purposes and they carry it in their wallets for future use).

Here’s what really happened. Mortgage originators issued paper to anyone and everyone. Didn’t matter. All they wanted was to collect the fees and commissions. They then sold off the mortgages, which collectively, amounted to many millions of pieces of paper and trillions of dollars in borrowed money.

Now the mortgages that were sold were low interest, short term agreements known as Adjustable Rate Mortgages. Typically, rates and therefore payments balloon in a few years.

Not to worry though. And this is the beauty of the scam When the ARM matures, the mark returns to the issuer to refinance the mortgage. Same low ARM and payment. But this time the house has appreciated in value, as we know all property does, so the mark is now richer and the refi is a breeze. The issuer collects more fees and commissions and sells the junk once again to an investor.

The statement “here’s your check. Go pick out a house and call me in the morning” wasn’t too far from the reality.

The Wall Street jailbirds then packaged the mortgages into securitized bundles (secured by the houses the money bought), sold the bundles and called them Collateralized Debt Obligations.

The huge insurance company must share the blame for the meltdown. Image via Wikipedia

However, the jailbirds, also known as investment bankers, went one step further. They insured all the junk mortgages they did not sell and called the insurance policies Credit Default Swaps. Goldman Sachs insured its CDOs with AIG, a huge CDS policy issuer.

AIG quickly went bankrupt when this bank created housing bubble burst and couldn’t payoff on the insurance policies it issued. Not to worry boys and girls. The government, courtesy of the taxpayer, shoveled some more cash, this time in AIG’s direction and soon the insurance company was able to make good on its debts and paid up what it owed Goldman Sachs (and many other companies). In effect the government rescued Goldman a second time from even greater losses.

The AIG default was partly due to inadequate reserves it was no longer required tokeep on hand because the deregulated market place allowed all rules to lapse.

Here’s some of the trash that the Wall Street jailbirds left behind for the taxpayer to clean up after. Gone are Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Bear Sterns, Washington Mutual, Countrywide Financial and a whole host of other less notables. And let’s not forget the toxic assets gobbled up by the trillions by the Federal Reserve Bank, the layoffs, the destroyed pensions, the unemployment crisis and the entire world deficit problem.

Oh, just one more thing, the huge executive bonuses the Wall Street jailbirds continue to pay themselves are nicely kept in tact.

Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, the righties still blame the victim for the crime.

Yes, as many postesr have pointed out, it’s a con game. Even a feeble politician like Boehner knows how to set up a defeat and turn it into a victory.

The Speaker lost the vote on the balanced budget amendment. But he “fought” for it and by gosh those tax and spend Democrats voted down the bill and all the Speaker’s hard work. Yes, the whole affair was political theater. Here’s how it works. Set up a defeat and blame the opposition.

Get it Obama. That’s how politics works in Follyland. Turn a defeat into victory but you set up the defeat in advance.

The Nobella Prize Committee today announced the winner of its recent Most Valualbe Putz award.

Mitt Romney is all smiles at the news he has just won the MVP award. Image via Wikipedia

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and current GOP candidate for president, received the Putzie todayfor his statement “I’m not looking to put money into people’s pockets.”

The statement was superfluous because everyone knew that anyway. But what Romney really received the award for – and it’s something most people don’t know yet – is that Romney was once the CEO of a company that excelled at taking money out of people’s pockets.

The firm the Mittster once headed up practiced a mean scam on working people called the leveraged buyout. The practice involved buying a company, often profitable, and firing loyal, hardworking employees, not only to get rid of higher paid workers, but reducing benefits and destroying pensions. The firm than resold the ravaged company for a hefty profit, nice bonuses for Romney and his big time buddies and joyful investor returns. Yes, everyday was Thanksgiving day for these con men.

With Romney now trailing Newt Gingrich in some polls for the Republican nomination, a campaign spokesman lauded the Committee’s decision to award the prize to their candidate.

Way to go, Mittster.

Winners of The Most Valuable Putz Award receive a certificate acknowledging the prize as well as a forged autographed copy of a photo of Don Alberto Vito Nobella, the originator of the prize.

These exceptional individuals also receive a statuette named the Pubar engraved with the words “putzed up beyond all reason.” Known as the Putzie the statuette is made of rusted metal stolen from an auto junk yard. The Putzie is given while supplies last and unfortunately for the current winner supplies just ran out.

The painting is by Edouard Manet and is entitled The Bar at the Folies Bergere.

The expression on the face of the barmaid is curious and lends itself to interpretation. Not as famous as the smile on the lips of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa the expression nevertheless arouses interest.

The subject of the painting is engaged in conversation with a customer at the bar. Is she being propositioned by a man whose attire proclaims his wealth? She seems bored. Perhaps she receives propositions nightly. Perhaps from the same man and she is simply tired of his persistence. But he is a customer and a good one and so she must endure his advances.

And why not engage this man and succumb to his proposal? Is she of high moral character? Perhaps. More likely she is already a wealthy man’s mistress. So why spoil a good thing. Endure she must.

Or is she thinking it over? Why not leave her current lover and bestow her favors on another? There may be advantages in a switch, a turn of fortunes. Perhaps so she is thinking.

What do you think? After all, there is more to art than paint on a canvas.

Image via Wikipedia

And here’s a dirty picture by Manet.

Image via Wikipedia

When I put the words “dirty picture” in a post I get a lot of responses. Sorry about that.

Some comedian recently said that he would believe corporations were people when Georgia and Texas began executing them. Good idea but fat chance.

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The DC Folly Trolley is filling rapidly with daft GOP candidates. Better buy a ticket and reserve your seat. The election is fast approaching and the Folly Trolley will depart on its journey across the nation in just a few weeks.

From Flickr via Creative Commons License Share Alike in which we participate with attribution.

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The latest candidate to board is Newt Gingrich. Is he for real or just the latest GOP flavor of the month? Only the pundits in Follyland, DC can tell us.

A pundit has said that Gingrich is a stupid man’s idea of what a smart man sounds like. Well that’s probably because he has a mouth as big as a whale’s blow hole.

A whale blowing air through its blow hole after surfacing. The blow hole acts as a whale’s nostrils. Photo from a brochure for Harmony Bed and Breakfast, Seward, AK.

Newt Gingrich has the gift of gab. He uses it to pull the wool over the eyes of people who support him. He’s been doing that for decades. No reason to stop now. For half the population istworks very well. Some, like the Fox newsers, even provide the wool.

If his advisers can keep him on script, Gingrich has a shot at the nomination. Scripts aren’t the Newtster’s strong point. So it’s a tough assignment; the man has a hair trigger mouth.

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If Newt wins the nomination does that mean his wife has to give back the Tiffany jewels he used to buy her off. Nah, Newt’s too decent a guy to demand something so cruel. But he has proposed putting 10 year old kids to work in the schools.

Image via Wikipedia

***

Perhaps you’ve heard by now, reports of Newton Leroy’s suggestion to put kids to work in their schools. No wage mentioned of course but probably something in the neighborhood of fifty cents an hour. That sounds about right.

Think of the possibilities such a program would spawn:

It would eliminate high wage labor. To a Repub like Newton Leroy that’s ten bucks an hour.

Allow schools to fire unionized janitors and lunch room personnel. Another good way to get rid of labor unions right wingers find so contemptible.

It would also eliminate benefits for workers that Newton’s kids wouldn’t receive.

Newton’s kids would greatly increase profits in privatized schools.

The program would greatly increase the incentive to privatize more schools.

Newton’s kids would reduce the cost of education so the Newtser could reduce property taxes – you guessed it – for rich people.

And how would Newton’s kids benefit from this nineteenth century thinking. Well, since they would now become working people they would no longer qualify for the school lunch program. So after three hours of labor they could pay for their own damn lunch, right Newt.

And now that the kids are making some big bucks, privately contracted food vendors could charge even more for their junk food – some of which is perfectly disgusting by the way. But, hey, it is bought and sold in a free market so it can’t be all bad.

So Newton Leroy strikes again. His idea will surely ignite support in the right wing Repub base.

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The chairs of the super duper committee in Congress have admitted failure. But not so fast. They still have three days to figure out a way to screw working people.

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Tax cut and spend Republicans have conspired for years to find a means to destroy the social safety net. They found the means when they bought the presidency for George W. Bush.

The Repubs cut taxes and spent with unmatched fury during the Bush years and now hope to bring their conspiracy to fruition.

Austerity is nothing more than a sneak attack on the working class the right wing abhors and of course on the hated social safety net.

So the Repubs want to spend, spend, spend – taxpayers money on their pet projects, on the war entitlement complex and on welfare for their big donor interests, the corporations.

They are determined to enhance the protection money conduit that lavishes hundreds of millions of dollars in cold cash on them and then to provide the protection – through favorable legislation – that the money buys.

To complete their destructive program, the right wing must destroy Obama along with its plan to abolish the middle class.

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The real mystery in the right wing conspiracy is Barack Obama. His determination to assist right wing extremists in their war on Social Security and Medicare is incomprehensible. The man has been absolutely driven to cut these programs. Yet by doing so, he participates in the GOP plan to destroy his presidency. Go figure.

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Think of Obama’s approach to the social safety net as murder. Social scientists tell us that the first one is the most difficult. All subsequent murders become easier and easier to commit. Does Obama not realize that the first adjustment these plans – will be the hardest to achieve? That if he succeeds even in bringing about the tiniest change he will open the floodgates to ever more changes until finally the programs are destroyed? Or is destruction his goal as well?

***

The four great ideas from Robert Reich represent good, common sense.

No spending cuts until unemployment is down to 5%.

A jobs program big enough to make a significant dent in unemployment.

Raise taxes on the wealthy.

Cut war entitlement spending and corporate welfare.

The right wing is aware of all of these ideas and knows well the success such a program will bring to the economy. However that is exactly the program they are hell bent on preventing.

Unfortunately the Backstabbers Wing of the Democratic party has joined with right wing Republicans to whittle away at the middle class and the covenant between the generations the social safety net represents.

The Republican governors of several states exposed the conspiracy for all to see: Tax cuts for the rich, spending cuts for the rest of us.

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Spending is indeed on the rise. However, much of the increase is the result of war related costs and corporate welfare and does next to nothing to reduce unemployment.

Most of the deficit can be traced back to the Bush tax cuts, the Bush recession (both of which resulted in the collapse of revenue) and the unfunded Bush wars.

Given their recent tax cut and spending history Republicans are guilty of spectacular hypocrisy and monumental chutzpah.

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One reason why voting in primary elections is so important: Since it is mainly the party faithful who vote in the primaries and they vote largely for, “safe”, established candidates, many other potential candidates are discouraged from entering the primary. However, large turnouts by progressives could change the landscape of general elections by placing liberals – still the messengers of the people – on the ballot.

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Regardless of the support Obama gives to the conservative movement, they will never return the favor. Refer to McConnell’s statement that his job is to make Obama a one term president.

The Senate minority leader may well succeed. He has sabotaged all programs that might benefit the economy and the blame for his nefarious scheme seems to accruing to Obama.

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If Obama’s policies favor conservatives it is because he needs their money. Every little bit helps if he is to become the first president to spend a billion dollars to purchase the office.

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Tax cut and spend conservatives are responsible for the largest portion of the deficit. The Bush tax cuts, the Bush recession and the unfunded Bush wars resulted in massive expenditures and plunging revenues. Eliminate the tax cuts, the recession and reduce war entitlement spending and the deficit is quickly reversed.

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Blue Dog Dems are not much better than a bunch of right wing Republicans. In fact they give the party of FDR a bad name.

Rahm was instrumental in creating the Backstabbers Wing of the Democratic party. Sure, they’re the lesser evil. But a slow, relentless evil nonetheless.

2010 was an opportunity to teach the right wing Democrats like Rahm a lesson. They never learn though because they don’t want to. They’re as much into the protection money race as the GOP. And they feel no guilt at helping their donors by voting for legislation that provides all the protection that special interests desire.

Writing a 40 year mortgage at a reasonable interest rate would save numerous homes from foreclosure.

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One of the most morally hazardous groups in all of history – the banksters – are the ones who are raising the moral hazard issue. So much for the 40 year mortgage.

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Billions of dollars well spent. Just think of all the multimillion dollar executive bonuses it created. Image via Wikipedia

The United States owns 11 aircraft carrier fleets whose combined worth is trillions of dollars. It has numerous submarines, both killer class and missile launchers whose combined worth is trillions of dollars. It possesses hundreds of ICBMs with MIRV hydrogen warheads worth trillions of dollars. It has intercontinental bombers with nuclear warheads worth trillions of dollars. It has fighter jets, tanks and an assortment of tactical nuclear devices worth trillions of dollars. And you think the government doesn’t know how to manage money!!!

Cruise missiles don’t grow on trees, ya know.

Can wipe out millions in a single launch. Wow! That should keep the terrorists away. Image via Wikipedia

Just havin’ a little fun, honey. No harm in that. And his wife doesn’t understand him.

Unfortunately for a lot of these hand stickers, history keeps repeating itself over and over again. So guys pay attention to history. If you want to avoid sticky situations, best stick to sticking your hand up your wife’s skirt. If she can stand it.

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Some people think Fox Newsers are brainwashed. Actually a light rinse would be sufficient.

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Posts that relate to sex on campus receive some of the largest responses. So I think in the future I’ll include something about sex on campus in all my posts. After all sex on campus exists everywhere – even off campus. It’s part of the facts of life. Bet your momma never told you about that. Bet she didn’t need to.

Facts were never a GOP strong point. RNC chairman and chief Republican propagandist Reince Priebus said that the GOP is not looking out only for the rich.

Do they even know that other classes exist??? And if they do, have they ever cared about anyone but the rich for the past 150 years?

What the fuck you talkin’ about. We love our poor folks, those making between a half and , oh say, a million or so a year. We want to do everything we can to help them along.

He (I don’t want to have to type his name again – or pronounce it for that matter) evidently believes like all good Repubs that Reagan’s Jobs Falling Out Of The Sky economic theory (also known as supply side) will help the poor and working classes.

The guy is a regular comedian. Can’t wait for election year to hear more of his jokes.

Banks refer to a default on a mortgage as an “involuntary prepayment.” Sounds a lot better than “foreclosure” on a financial report.

***.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

The oligarchs are getting jittery about the Occupy movement. If you can stomach it, check out the comments of the right wingers on Fox News Sunday. They used such words as “un-American” and “undemocratic” to describe the occupiers. And holy cow dung, Batman, they even used the Foxers favorite turd word – “Marxist”.

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If Obama believes the Iran issue will become a soft spot during an election year, he will strike. He may hide behind the skirts of the Israelis, but he will strike.

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Libertarianism is rubbish. It can exist only in theories and the slick pages and sanitized graphs of $150 economic textbooks. Human intervention utterly destroys any possibility of genuinely “free” markets. Ron Paul is kidding and the jokes on us.

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Uncertainty Gambit Exposed

Nobody believed the “uncertain­ty” gambit to begin with – with the possible exception of those who blindly follow the Fox News Pied Piper. Certainly Congressio­nal Republican­s never believed it. It was always rubbish, a talking point. However it is now and will continue to be spun endlessly.

At he heart of the spin is the idea that the wealthy are beset by high taxes and if they are given one more tax cut – just one – jobs will fall from the sky.

The second part of the gambit is that corporatio­ns, that is, the wealthy, are laboring under a crush of regulation­. If we would only deregulate­, guess what, jobs will fall from the sky.

It is such a good gambit that the Backstabbe­rs Wing of the Democratic party has embraced it. It gives them the excuse they need to support more tax cuts for their wealthy donors and deregulati­on for their corporate sponsors. After all the big money boys are having pangs of insecurity about taxes and regulation. Oh, the scary nightmares the rich must be suffering from. Worse than a Halloween boo.

It is, of course, and has always been, a ruse. The only uncertainty is no uncertainty at all. Folks with no money aren’t going to buy. Get it. Demand for products has tanked. So why invest? Well, you don’t. Best to sit on a couple trillion as the corporations are now doing.

Now here’s a formula you might want to consider: Uncertainty equals GOP bullshit.

The Nobella Prize Committee announced the latest winners of its MVP award.

Nice old timey picture of the Street where crime is rampant. But not street crime. White collar crime. Image via Wikipedia

The Committee gave its Most Valuable Putz prize to honor Wall Street bankers and investors who scammed millions of Americans by scarfing up untold numbers of subprime mortgages and then bundling them in to bonds called Collateralized Debt Obligations. In a twist of pure financial genius these bankers then sold the worthless bonds to unsuspecting investors many of whom were local school boards and county and state governments who bought into the scam.

The investors lost billions of dollars, destroying numerous pension funds in the process. However, the banking firms earned record profits while managing to wrest trillions of dollars in welfare payments from the taxpayer and the Fed.

The bankers of course contributed millions of dollars in protection money to the DC government and sure got their money’s worth in the deal.

A slight hitch occurred when the real estate bubble caused by these unsavory practices burst. Nevertheless the bankers made out like bandits. And nobody cares about pensions for a bunch of working slobs anymore anyway.

Congrats Wall Street bankers. You have earned your Putzie.

Winners of the MVP award receive a statuette named the PUBAR engraved with the words “Putzed up beyond all reason.” Known as the Putzie the statuette is made of rusted metal stolen from an auto junk yard. The Putzie is given while supplies last and unfortunately for the current winners supplies just ran out.

The minimum wage in Indonesia is one dollar a day, about one half of what is estimated to be a living wage.

In some areas of China and in other Asian countries the wage is even less.

The program linked below is about an hour long and you don’t have time for it. And either does anyone else. But – is it even remotely possible that children in the United States, perhaps your own or your grandchildren, will live like those depicted in the documentary? It’s not a pretty picture or a comforting thought. Don’t be too sure it won’t happen here. Wall Street investors would love it.

Picture showing dramatic improvement in living conditions in China.

A committee of Wall Street executives traveling in China today praised the improvements in wages and living conditions for the teenage labor force in Asia.

Asian wage slaves typically are young teens who can labor for long hours and receive wages of as much as twenty-five cents an hour. Considering that these teens often work twelve hours a day the salary they receive often reaches three dollars daily and by working seven days they earn as much as twenty-one dollars a week. These circumstances are rare but not unknown. The usual wage is about a dollar a day in most countries.

During the Christmas rush when orders are at their height the teens are permitted to work two to three hours extra per day thereby increasing their daily wage by fifty to seventy five cents.

The Wall Street executives predicted a bright future for these hard working young men and women.

The teens live in company barracks that are protected by ten-foot chain link fences topped with strands of barbed wire. The gates are always locked and guarded to add further protection for the young workers. Because of the vital role these teens play in the global economy, illness is not permitted. The Wall Street visitors were impressed by the responsibility the young work force showed for its duties exhibited by the fact that no one ever gets sick.

The company charges a modest rental fee of fourteen dollars a week to live in the barracks. The wage slaves however live in relative comfort in a friendly atmosphere with twelve teens to a room. The company provides at no extra charge a mat for the teens to sleep on, a well pump in the rear of the barracks to provide water for all to share and has added several additional outhouses to care for personal needs.

The teens are fed two bowls of rice a day. The amount of rice was recently increased from four to five ounces per bowl. On Sundays the rice is now cooked in chicken broth to add extra nourishment and working hours have been strictly limited to twelve even during the busy Christmas season. The teens are also given two cups of tea per day.

The cost for each bowl of rice is twenty five cents. The company now provides the tea free of charge as a benefit which it is able to deduct from its taxes. At the end of an eighty four hour week each teen receives a net pay of three dollars.

The company generously offers a savings plan to the teens also without charge. Teens are required to participate in the plan. The minimum deposit is three dollars or the entire amount of the weekly pay which ever is greater.

Wall Street executives praised the living conditions under which the young teens lived and are eager to remind Americans who buy products made in Asia that they are helping to support millions of hardworking young men and women throughout that rapidly developing region.

Committee of executives impressed by improvements in living conditions throughout Asia.

I voted for Bill Clinton twice, the second time somewhat reluctantly because of his support for NAFTA. And while he may be a likeable fellow, his actions as president did great harm to the country.

Always liked the guy. And no one can say he wasn't faithful to his wife and many mistresses. Image via Wikipedia

He’s published another book, his third. I haven’t read it yet but reviews indicate that his latest effort focuses on the country’s economic problems.

Whatever his solutions may be, Bill Clinton can’t ignore his own contributions to the mess the economy is in today.

He appointed two of the worst secretaries of the Treasury in the country’s history – Robert Rubin and Larry Summers – both of whom were compulsive deregulationists.

He signed off on two of the worst pieces of legislation ever to befall the country: The Financial Services Modernization Act (also known by the names of its Republican sponsors, the notorious Phil Gramm and fellow Republican extremists in the House Jim Leach and Tom Bliley). And he signed into law the now infamous Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Taken together, these two laws led directly to the massive abuses by the financial industry and were a leading cause of the meltdown.

In addition, he foolishly reappointed Alan Greenspan, a Republican, to the Fed Chair at a time when a Democrat might have brought a more disciplined approach to Fed policy.

He, and his DLC companions, convulsed the Democratic party, turning it away from the common men and women who have supported it for decades and transforming into the corporate toady that it is today.

And last but not least there is the NAFTA disaster, a pact which he should have vetoed. Barring that action, he could have insisted on revisions to make the agreement more favorably disposed to the needs of working people.

For these blunders, Clinton must answer to history.

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The Nobella Prize Committee has just announced the nominees for its newest award: The Shit Eatingest Grin of the Decade.